http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2001/03/16/Opinion/Opinion.23049.html
Sealing off humanity
By Naomi Chazan,
Jerusalem Post
(March 16) - This week, Israel's policy of blockading the villages
and towns of the West Bank and Gaza reached pernicious and horrifying
heights. Closures, sieges and embargoes have been part of Israeli
policy since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada, but never before
has their implementation been so cruel and senseless.
Residents in the territories have not been able to move beyond the
limited perimeters of their homes. Children are prevented from
attending school, people cannot get to work, the sick remain without
medical care. Food supplies, already scarce, are dwindling. People
are truly suffering.
Collective punishment of civilians is a gross violation of human
rights. The imposition of a "choking closure," or for that matter,
a "breathing closure" (note the insensitivity of official
terminology) is effectively strangulating millions of Palestinians
and creating immense human misery.
The purposes of the closure policy are as ambiguous as they are
counterproductive. Ostensibly, the blockade of Palestinians is meant
to curb terrorist acts. Defense sources boasted that a specific
attack was thwarted at the beginning of the week (although the
perpetrators were not apprehended). But for every terrorist caught in
such a net, tens are bred in the morass of hunger, anger and
frustration evoked by these persistent restrictions.
On a broader level, if some policymakers actually entertained the
notion that collective immobilization may end violence in exchange
for bread, then the solidarity evoked by Palestinians in the face of
growing impoverishment should disabuse them of such thoughts. Indeed,
the simplistic barter equation bandied about to defend the closures
has in all probability achieved the opposite: a growing desire to
strike out against those who humiliate, oppress and harass. The
closure, in reality, is a time bomb that can explode at any moment.
Others have suggested that the rationale behind the closure is to
increase opposition to the Palestinian Authority and to undermine its
leadership, in the hope of forcing a change in Palestinian policy. In
other words, sealing off Palestinian civilians is seen as a way to
break their will. But there is precious little evidence that such a
process is occurring. To the contrary, despair is a powerful cement
binding the Palestinians together against the occupation.
If the goal is to bring about the collapse of the Palestinian
Authority, then perhaps the time has come to analyze the implications
of anarchy in the territories. For Israel the breakdown of
Palestinian institutions spells nothing short of disaster. People
with nothing to lose, whose leaders are local activists and warlords,
and who possess no central authority, constitute a clear and present
danger for Israelis and for any viable future.
The events of the last few months should have driven home the
obvious, that Yasser Arafat and the PLO, however problematic and
erratic, do maintain a modicum of control in the West Bank and Gaza.
They are, for better or for worse, Israel's adversaries and only
viable negotiating partners.
Perhaps, at root, the sealing off of Palestinians is meant to show
confused and fearful Israelis that something is being done to fight
terrorism and stop the violence. But these are short-term measures to
temporarily allay raw emotions. They will not solve the problem and,
shortsighted as they are, do not help to manage the conflict in these
very difficult circumstances.
The punishment of innocent people to achieve ill-conceived objectives
cannot but backfire. In fact, the instinctive reactions of Prime
Minister Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer intimate,
once again, that army actions may have become a substitute for a
defined, well thought-out policy. In any country, even for a
government in transition, such a vacuum is intolerable. This is all
the more true for Israel today.
The damage wrought by the closure is unspeakable. Israel has exposed
itself to justifiable international condemnation. It has escalated
the situation on the eve of the Arab summit. It may invite what it
has sought to prevent: international intervention in the conflict.
Above all, Israel has directly caused untold human misery. As long as
the territories captured in 1967 are under Israeli control, Israel
bears full responsibility for what occurs in those areas.
Protestations notwithstanding, the paralysis of Palestinians is an
Israeli action, and the moral onus is Israel's to bear - a most
shameful and ethically indefensible burden indeed. It should neither
be excused nor condoned.
The blockades must be lifted and the policy of closures must be
stopped now. Such a move is imperative for Israel's security, its
international standing, its morality, and its human face.
(The writer is a Meretz MK and deputy speaker of the Knesset.)
